Salvo are slammed for ‘sinister’ burning of Act

Apro-independence group has been slammed for encouraging people to burn copies of the Act of Union and for referring to the UK as Scotland’s “colonial oppressor”.

Just after midnight on November 5 a number of bonfires were lit across Scotland, including in Inverness, Nairn and Aberdeen, and people were encouraged to burn copies of the 315-year-old treaty and “all symbols of colonial oppression in Scotland”.

However the stunt, organised by a group called Salvo, has been heavily criticised and dubbed “incredibly stupid and irresponsible”.

SNP MP Pete Wishart said it is “sinister” to be burning copies of a legal act and added it is “counterproductive” for the wider independence movement.

The stunt was called Bonfire of the Vanities and it saw nine fires lit across Scotland, including in Aberdeen, Inverness, Nairn, Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn in Fife, Glasgow and Kilmarnock.

Supporters were also encouraged to hold their own private “burnings” and link up to one of the main events over Zoom.

The term “bonfire of the vanities” comes from events that took place in Florence in Italy in the 1490s when the Dominican friar Savonarola encouraged his followers to burn anything considered a “luxury”, including books, manuscripts and works of art. The Treaty of Union was signed in 1707 and officially brought England and Scotland together under one state.

This Act replaced the English Parliament in Westminster and the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh with one single parliament of Great Britain.

The stunt has been condemned by Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, who urged the group to “stop this incredible nonsense”.

He said: “I have never seen anything like it.

“It is sinister and there is no democratic debate for burning anything like that.

“It is incredibly irresponsible. “This was done in the name of colonial oppression and the people of Scotland don’t believe they are colonised, they would think you are mad or just laugh at that.”

Mr Wishart added acts like this hamper the wider Scottish independence movement.

He said: “We are in the business of winning people over to the cause of independence and mad and crazy stunts like that turn people off in droves.

“We are in a critical position in the debate on independence.

“People are observing the language and the activity we use and when they see stuff like that they think the whole independence movement is nuts and doesn’t talk to their experience.”

He said those who want to campaign for independence should do so by knocking on people’s doors and speaking to them instead.

A spokesperson for Salvo said the plan was for the bonfires to reenact the “burning of articles of union all over the country in 1707”.

They added they wanted to question the “legality of parliamentary sovereignty as claimed by Westminster” and said at the time “everyone turned a blind eye because it suited them”.

‘THEY’LL THINK WE’RE NUTS’: An SNP MP condemned independence group Salvo for burning the Act of Union.

Bonfires were arranged by Salvo supporters around the country.